Jacqueline Stewart

Last updated

Jacqueline Stewart
Born1970 (age 54–55) [1]
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education
Occupations
Years active1999–present
SpouseJake Austen [2]
Children1

Jacqueline Najuma Stewart [3] is an American cinema studies scholar and television host for Turner Classic Movies. A professor at the University of Chicago, [4] she also served as the inaugural artistic director, and then president for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures from 2021 to 2024. [5] [6] Stewart is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Film Preservation Board, and was honored as a MacArthur Fellow.

Contents

Born in Chicago, Stewart is an alumnus of Stanford University and University of Chicago, graduating with a master's degree and PhD in English. In 2005, she wrote her debut non-fiction book Migrating to the Movies, which explored the correlation of classical Hollywood cinema and the African-American experience during the Great Migration. Meanwhile, Stewart served as the chairwoman for the nonprofit arts organization, Black Cinema House, [7] and founded the South Side Home Movie Project. She also collaborated with her husband Jake Austen on the public-access television series Chic-a-Go-Go .

In 2015, Stewart collaborated with Charles Musser on curating the DVD set Pioneers of African-American Cinema , which led to an appearance on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), alongside Ben Mankiewicz. She subsequently appeared at the TCM Classic Film Festival, and in 2019, Stewart was hired to host the Silent Sunday Nights programming block on late-night weekends.

Early years

Stewart was born and raised in Hyde Park, within South Side, Chicago. [8] During her childhood, she remembered her aunt Constance introducing her to classic films on television. She stated, "...I always stayed up really late with her watching black and white films. She would talk to me during the commercial breaks about all the stars and the theaters that she used to go to. I was fascinated by the alternative world that I saw, the way that people talked and the way they dressed." [9]

She graduated from Kenwood Academy High School. Afterwards, she enrolled in Stanford University, intent on becoming a journalist. There, she watched Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It (1986). Impressed, she studied Lee's career and feminist film theory, on which she based her Bachelor of Arts thesis. [10] In 1991, she graduated with a Bachelors in English. After this, Stewart enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Chicago (UC). Stewart reflected, "Film studies was just being formalized there and they hired a scholar named Miriam Hansen who wound up being my dissertation advisor and my mentor. And she specialized in silent cinema." [11] In 1993, she graduated with a Master's degree, and in 1998 with a PhD, both in English from the University of Chicago. [12] [13]

Career

University professor

Stewart taught at the University of Chicago from 1999 to 2006, serving in the Department of English and on the Committee on Cinema & Media Studies. [1] In 2006, she joined the Department of Radio/Television/Film, and the Department of African American Studies, at Northwestern University as an associate professor. She returned to the University of Chicago in 2013 as a professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies. [14] During the fall of 2020, she began an extended leave from the University of Chicago after she was selected as the first artistic director for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. [15] She returned to the university in 2024 after also serving as the museum's president. [6]

In 2018, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, [16] and in 2021, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. [14] In 2024, she was awarded the Distinguished Career Achievement Award by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. [17]

Author

In 2005, Stewart published her first book titled Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity. The Chicago Tribune reported she had spent a decade researching the topic, which focused on the role Hollywood cinema played in both influencing and reflecting the social mobility of Black Americans, particularly during the Great Migration when they began relocating to the Northeast after living in the South. [1]

Ten years later, in 2015, she co-authored the book L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema, chronicling the film movement, with then-UCLA Film and Television Archive director Jan-Christopher Horak and then-UCLA cinema studies professor Allyson Nadia Field. [18] In 2021, she published her third book William Greaves: Filmmaking as Mission, a biography of the documentary filmmaker, with Scott MacDonald, a professor at Hamilton College. [19] For several years, Stewart has been researching for a biography on actor–director Spencer Williams. [11] [20]

Museum curator

In 2005, Stewart founded the South Side Home Movie Project, which collects, preserves, as a cultural and historical resource, the 16 mm, 8 mm, and Super 8 homemade films of residents of South Side, Chicago, together with oral histories of the creators. The archive is headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, but after Stewart left for Northwestern University, she continued to collaborate with the university's Film Studies Center, the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture, and several Chicago graduate students to continue the project. [21] [22]

By 2020, she was a three-term appointee to the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB), which advises the Librarian of Congress on policy. She also chaired the NFPB Diversity Task Force, ensuring the selected films chosen for the National Film Registry reflect diversity and inclusion. [23] [24]

Taking a sabbatical from the University of Chicago, in 2021, Stewart was appointed the inaugural artistic director at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. [15] [25] On July 6, 2022, the Academy Museum announced Stewart's appointment as director and president of the institution. [5] [26] At the museum, she oversaw the opening of numerous exhibits, including its first permanent exhibit, and led the development of its first strategic plan. She stepped down in 2024 to return to the University of Chicago. [6]

Television career

During her high school years, Stewart met Jake Austen, who would soon become her husband. [2] During the 1990s, Austen began researching a WCIU-TV children's dance program titled Kiddie a-Go-Go, which was replaced by Soul Train , after he had been sent photographs for a story. He became interested in dance television, and together with Stewart, they decided to create a new children's program as a homage. [27] They connected with Kelly Kuvo of The Scissor Girls, a Chicago-based music band. With Kuvo's help, CAN-TV offered Austen a time slot to broadcast his program. Chic-a-Go-Go premiered in May 1996, and has remained on the air ever since. [27]

In 2015, Stewart collaborated with Charles Musser on curating the DVD set Pioneers of African-American Cinema . [28] During the summer of 2017, Stewart was invited on Turner Classic Movies to present a selection of films from the set, with future colleague Ben Mankiewicz. [29] Soon after, she was invited to the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival as a panelist to discuss the history of black images; in 2019, she was a guest speaker at a screening of The Defiant Ones (1958) and was a panelist for a discussion titled "The Complicated Legacy of Gone with the Wind ". [30]

In September 2019, Stewart became the first African-American host for Turner Classic Movies, as the host for the Silent Sunday Nights programming block. [23] In 2020, she stated her first exposure to silent films was watching them at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, with her friends during weekends. [31]

In June 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, writer–director John Ridley wrote an op-ed calling for the 1939 film Gone with the Wind to be pulled from HBO Max. [32] The film was temporarily pulled and placed back on the service later that month, with a new commentary introduction from Stewart. [33] In an op-ed for CNN, Stewart wrote: "Some complained that taking the film down was a form of censorship. For others, seeing Gone with the Wind featured so prominently in HBO Max's launch felt like salt rubbed into wounds that have never been permitted to heal ... But it is precisely because of the ongoing, painful patterns of racial injustice and disregard for Black lives that Gone with the Wind should stay in circulation and remain available for viewing, analysis and discussion." [34]

In 2021, TCM debuted a new series titled Reframed Classics, reanalyzing 18 films with problematic racial and gender stereotypes, with Stewart as one of the hosts. [35] Charles Tabesh, TCM's senior vice president of programming, told the Los Angeles Times the response to the Reframed Classics series was mixed among older audiences. On the other hand, Stewart stated it was well-received by Academy members, especially those who are people of color. She said: "They appreciate the channel and the ways it is recognizing issues like blackface in classic films, or the casting of white actors to play nonwhite characters, in greater depth." [36]

Personal life

Stewart is married to Jake Austen, a rock artist and editor of the Roctober music zine. They met each other during high school. She has one daughter, Maiya. [2] [37] In 1996, Austen and Stewart co-created a children's dance television program Chic-a-Go-Go. [27]

Books

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Jones, Patrice M. (July 28, 2005). "Movies as Mirrors". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, pp. 1, 7. Archived from the original on May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024. A 35-year-old academic, Stewart was courted by many of the nation's top universities.
  2. 1 2 3 McLeod, Kembrew (September 2006). "Chic-a-Go-Go". Perfect Sound Forever . Archived from the original on October 22, 2006. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  3. ↑ Phillips, Michael (September 2, 2016). "Jacqueline Stewart, champion for African-American cinema". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Jacqueline Stewart—Department of Cinema and Media Studies". University of Chicago. Archived from the original on April 24, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  5. 1 2 "The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Appoints Jacqueline Stewart as New Director and President". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Press release). Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. July 6, 2022. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2022. The Board of Trustees of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced the appointment of Jacqueline Stewart as the director and president of the institution. Stewart has served as chief artistic and programming officer of the Academy Museum since 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 Feinberg, Scott (May 29, 2024). "Jacqueline Stewart Exits and Amy Homma Enters as Academy Museum Chief, Randy Haberkamp Retiring". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Afronauts with Frances Bodomo and Jacqueline Stewart" (Press release). Graham Foundation. Archived from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2017. Jacqueline Stewart is ... co-curator of the L.A. Rebellion project at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Her film work in Chicago includes founding the South Side Home Movie Project and serving as Curator of Black Cinema House, a neighborhood-based film exhibition venue run by Theaster Gates' Rebuild Foundation.
  8. ↑ Grifiths, John (2020). "Class Acts". Emmy Magazine. No. 3. Archived from the original on April 24, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  9. ↑ Maine, Brooke (October 17, 2022). "Jacqueline Stewart Wants to Show You Another Side of Hollywood". W (Interview). Archived from the original on October 17, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  10. ↑ Alexander, Sonya (June 10, 2021). "From Hyde Park to Hollywood". South Side Weekly. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  11. 1 2 Ferdinand, Marilyn (January 1, 2022). "SPOTLIGHT January 2022: Jacqueline Stewart, Film Scholar, Archivist, and Curator". Alliance of Women Film Journalists . Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Jacqueline Stewart". University of Chicago (Press release). n.d. Archived from the original on May 2, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  13. ↑ Fluker, Dominque (March 17, 2024). "Jacqueline Stewart, Director And President Of The Academy Museum Of Motion Pictures, Leads With Purpose". Essence . Archived from the original on March 19, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  14. 1 2 "Jacqueline Stewart". MacArthur Foundation. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  15. 1 2 Phillips, Michael (October 19, 2020). "Chicago's Jacqueline Stewart to head LA's Academy Museum of Motion Pictures". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Jacqueline Stewart". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on November 30, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Society for Cinema and Media Studies Distinguished Career Achievement Award". Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
  18. ↑ Field, Allyson; Horak, Jan-Christopher; Stewart, Jacqueline Najuma (2015). 'L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-28468-5. Archived from the original on April 2, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  19. ↑ William Greaves: Filmmaking as Mission. Columbia University Press. 2021. ISBN   978-0-231-55319-3. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  20. ↑ "University of Chicago Research Projects — Spencer Williams". University of Chicago. 2004. Archived from the original on November 29, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  21. ↑ "About South Side Home Movie Project". South Side Home Movie Project. Archived from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  22. ↑ Gibson, Lydialyle (March–April 2007). "Cinéma vérité". University of Chicago Magazine. Vol. 99, no. 4. Archived from the original on March 16, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  23. 1 2 Daniels, Karu F. (September 13, 2019). "Author, professor and film scholar Jacqueline Stewart becomes first African-American host of Turner Classic Movies". Daily News . Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  24. ↑ King, Loren (March 24, 2020). "Silent Sunday Nights Host Jacqueline Stewart's Easy Going Film Expertise". Motion Picture Association . Archived from the original on April 24, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  25. ↑ Thompson, Anne (October 20, 2020). "The Academy Museum Lucks Out with Chief Artistic Programmer Jacqueline Stewart". IndieWire. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  26. ↑ Jacobs, Julia (July 6, 2022). "The Academy Museum Names Jacqueline Stewart as New Leader". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  27. 1 2 3 Goldhammer, Zack (April 2, 2014). "Mister Go-Go". South Side Weekly. Archived from the original on August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  28. ↑ Jevens, Darel (January 8, 2017). "Top Chicago Critics Circle awards go to 'Moonlight,' 'La La Land'". Chicago Sun-Times . Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  29. ↑ Coley, Jacqueline (October 21, 2019). "Jacqueline Stewart's Five Favorite Films". Rotten Tomatoes (Interview). Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  30. ↑ Bitran, Tara (September 9, 2019). "Jacqueline Stewart Becomes First African American Host at Turner Classic Movies". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 28, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  31. ↑ Ford, Anne (January 8, 2020). "Jacqueline Stewart Watches Movies Over Your Shoulder on Airplanes". Chicago (Interview). Archived from the original on January 8, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  32. ↑ Pallotta, Frank (June 10, 2020). "'Gone with the Wind' pulled from HBO Max until it can return with 'historical context'". CNN . Archived from the original on June 10, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  33. ↑ Spangler, Todd (June 24, 2020). "HBO Max Restores 'Gone With the Wind' With Disclaimer Saying Film 'Denies the Horrors of Slavery'". Variety . Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  34. ↑ Stewart, Jacqueline (June 12, 2020). "Why we can't turn away from 'Gone with the Wind'". CNN. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  35. ↑ "In a new series, TCM takes a look at 'problematic' classics". Los Angeles Times. March 4, 2021. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  36. ↑ Battaglio, Stephen (June 22, 2021). "Can this classic movie channel survive in a streaming world? How TCM is adapting". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 22, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  37. ↑ Stewart 2005, p. xxiii.

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